University of Kansas Week 1

June 9th 2014

Welcome to my NACUFS management internship blog! Let me quickly introduce myself: My name is Alison Bliven, I am originally from Bradford, Vermont but I attend school at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York where I major in Nutrition Management and double minor in Exercise Science and Psychology. I will be a senior in the fall and while I'm looking forward to finishing my last year with gusto, I'm  also finding myself trying to relish every moment of summer I can get here at KU.

I flew into Kansas this past Saturday and was greeted by my cheerful internship coordinator, Mary Rondon who swept me away and showed me around Lawrence and the KU campus. Having looked at the campus online before coming, I had already been amazed by how beautiful both the landscape and architecture were especially in comparison to RIT, named the third ugliest campus in America. The university was only more impressive in person. I also didn't mind coming from constant 50 degree temperatures to a nice and warm 80 either!

Saturday was also the day Tonya Davis, the other wonderful intern, drove in from her home state of West Virginia. We all got dinner at Mrs. E's, the biggest residential dining hall and got to know each other a little bit. Tonya and I are staying in Hashinger Hall on top of Daisy Hill (which I'm convinced is the highest altitude in the state). Mary had given us a pretty sweet set up in our dorm rooms including a bedding set, snacks, mini fridge, KU swag as well as an information packet about Lawrence and our internship manuals (thank you very much Mary and dining services!) We mostly rested up the rest of the weekend in preparation for our big week to come!

The first week of the internship was mostly spent getting to know the KU Dining Services leadership team and being introduced to some of the 22 locations on campus they run.

Mary Rondon introduced us to the world of food allergies. It's such an important part of a college food service operation because students depend on them to make sure the food they are paying for and eating won't hurt them. We met with Nona Golledge, the director of KU Dining Services, who explained to us the flow of management and responsibility through the entire operation from residential dining to administration. Mike Reid put on a presentation about the history of KU, where we learned about the origin of the Jayhawkers and the evolution of the mascot through the years, the "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" chant, as well as the role the inventor of basketball, James Naismith, had in shaping the past times of the university.

The first dining hall we were introduced to was North College Cafe. Jim Schillings, the manager, talked to us about the unique challenges of having a smaller operation but also the opportunities it supplied. Many people running North College are either vegetarian or vegan which has affected much of the menu; there are usually many vegetarian and vegan options available alongside the usual fare.

Oliver, another residential location, is currently under much construction, so the cafe is closed this summer. We were still able to meet with the manager, David Weakley who took us down to the dungeon, aka where a bunch of random stuff is stored. This dining hall is also home to the largest salad bar on campus (shown to the right).

At the largest residential dining hall, Mrs. E's, we met with Travis Fell the culinary assistant manager and Sergio Banos the assistant manager. We took a tour of the back of the house and got to see what a large operation was maintained even during the summer months.

The Studio, located in our very own residence hall, is both a mixture of residential and retail services. David Hurwitz, the manager, spoke to us about the unique opportunities the Studio offers due to this combination as well as acting as a hang out spot for students since it is open the latest out of all of the residential locations. Tonya and I spent some time on the patio attached to it doing our work. It has some really nice views!

Alecia Stulz was our tour guide to many of the retail locations on campus. We first looked at the largest one, the Market, located in the Union. KU Dining Services have created many of their own brands of food service creations such as Brellas, a sandwich station, Pulse, a coffee shop, 'Za, a line of pizza, and the Grab'n'Go line. The Underground is home to a bunch of different retail shops including Pizza Hut and Chick-fil-a. We also got to see the Crimson Cafe which is popular among athletes especially due to it's housing of the Training Table at night.

Dessert Selection at the Market

The Underground

Inside of Crimson Cafe

Independent Pulse Coffee Shop

On Friday the whole leadership team joined together at a luncheon in the Union's restaurant Impromptu. The food was absolutely delicious, especially the signature drink of watermelon lemonade. Tonya and I were also the recipients of some words of wisdom from the whole group; hopefully we'll be able to apply much of what was talked about through our internship.

We were also introduced to our special projects that we're going to be working on through the whole summer. Together, Tonya and I will be creating a completely vegan food station to incorporate into North College Cafe and Oliver. We will also be designing and implementing a special event dinner for Mrs. E's at the end of July. My personal project includes researching and developing a plan to increase the awareness of the KU Dining Services rooftop garden. Super exciting stuff!

The week wasn't all work though! Tonya and I ventured out a little and explored Massachusetts street, the main drag of Lawrence. There were all kinds of shops, bars and restaurants. I have a friend from Vermont who actually lives in town so one day he took us around and showed us some of his favorite shops that we missed our first time out. Here we are enjoying some mustache props:



Some more pictures from our time on the outside:

At a natural foods store

I got a bike at a yard sale!

My first week in Lawrence has definitely been a full one. Can't wait to start working more on our special projects and learning the ways of the college food service!

I'll leave you all with an inspirational quote via Sergio Banos:
"...Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." - John F Kennedy